A truly open inquest

The public inquest that begins Monday into the shooting death of a Delray Beach teenager by a police officer is not designed to conclude that the officer should face criminal charges. Nor is it designed to exonerate the officer. It is designed to let the public see and hear the various accounts of what happened on the night of Feb. 26 at the Delray Full Service Center and to let a judge determine whether officer Darren Cogoni used force illegally when he killed Jerrod Miller.

With that in mind, Judge Debra Moses Stephens was correct to reverse herself Friday and not order that the faces of teenagers who will testify at the inquest be blacked out. Openness in the sensitive case -- officer Cogoni is white, and Jerrod Miller was African-American -- is the reason prosecutors requested the rare inquest, and the judge was bucking a two-decades-old state law. Since half of the witnesses are juveniles, and since few people can fit into Judge Stephens' courtroom, the need for complete coverage on Palm Beach County's cable-access channel outweighs the understandable concern for the students.

The inquest will last at least three days. Then Judge Stephens will make her finding. If she finds probable cause, the state attorney's office will determine the charge. If she doesn't, there is little chance that prosecutors will proceed. Whatever the result, the public won't be able to say that it happened out of public view.